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Today in Austria: A round-up of the latest news on Tuesday

The Local Austria
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Today in Austria: A round-up of the latest news on Tuesday
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz attends a meeting on new Covid-19 restriction measures at the Austrian Chancellery in Vienna, Austria on March 22, 2021, amid the ongoing novel coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP)

Find out what's going on today in Austria with The Local's short roundup of the news.

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Regional measures to contain pandemic in east Austria to be discussed today

Known as the 'Eastern Summit', a crisis meeting will be held today with the Ministry of Health and the federal states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland to discuss the coronavirus situation in east Austria and possible regional measures, the APA news agency reports.

In the other federal states, however, no further tightening or relaxation are planned.

Austria’s federal and state government met on Monday to discuss the next steps in the pandemic, but decided to maintain the status quo, despite a rise in infections and hospitalisations in east Austria, as The Local reported yesterday.

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SEE ALSO: Austria to extend coronavirus lockdown measures

Highest ever coronavirus numbers in intensive care in Vienna

The seven-day incidence, or the number of new infections with the coronavirus in the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, is 240.4. The number is now highest in Vienna (321.9), followed by Salzburg (300.3). The value is lowest in Vorarlberg (66.7), Carinthia (187.1) and Styria (187.3).

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior has reported 2,412 new coronavirus cases within the last 24 hours. There are currently 1,983 people in hospital treatment due to the coronavirus, 437 of them in intensive care units.

In Vienna, 162 people were being treated in intensive care on Monday for coronavirus, more than at the height of the second wave in autumn.

Kurz will not be getting 'one extra jab'

Austrian newspapers Der Standard and Wiener Zeitung have picked up on a report in the Financial Times, according to which the EU does not want to grant Austria any extra vaccination doses as part of a distribution of 10 million additional BioNTech/Pfizer doses throughout the EU.

The FT quotes an unnamed EU official saying "Kurz will not be getting one extra jab".

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, along with five other central and eastern European Union heads of government, had previously urged Brussels to find a "correction mechanism" to fix what they called the unfair distribution of coronavirus vaccines within the bloc.

FPÖ accuses Greens of being behind Ibiza video

The leader of Austria’s right wing FPÖ parliamentary group Christian Hafenecker believes Austria’s Green Party were involved in the publication of the Ibiza video in 2019.

The secretly filmed video caused a political scandal which brought down Austria’s coalition government after two FPÖ politicians were shown discussing circumventing the law on party funding and taking over the media with the alleged niece of a Russian oligarch in Ibiza.

The Austrian newspapers Die Presse and Der Standard cover the latest developments.

READ MORE: Austrian far right leader resigns over Ibiza affair

Note: A previous version of this story said it was Monday. No, it was in fact Tuesday. But we could've sworn it felt like Monday. 

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